


I'm Sorry, Julia

by clarapaget



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fake Dating, Femslash February, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 02:16:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17889608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarapaget/pseuds/clarapaget
Summary: Alice and Julia swap powder for an orb.





	I'm Sorry, Julia

“Now, Alice, let’s go over the plan before we head in there,” Julia said, her hands gently wrapped around the wheel of the car; likely bracing herself. 

The facts were these: Julia and Alice had been left to their own devices; now, alone, without the embrace of their friends; so here they sat, in a jeep. Waiting. Quentin had gone off; somewhere in Fillory, most likely, as he was often there more than Earth. Kady was visiting a friend, “for help” is what she said. And Alice, hot-tempered, and bright needed something. A magical object. Julia had asked her, cautiously, why she couldn’t have just asked one of the Brakebills professors. “It’s a black market kind of magical object,” Alice had said curtly.

Low music; humming, thrill; vibrated around them from the club that sat opposite the street they were parked. People dressed irregularly and revealingly; partners hanging on the shoulders of their lovers, eyes forming hearts as they looked on. 

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” Alice stated. “Couples only. Aleksandra, the said person we are obtaining the magical orb from, is waiting inside for us.”

Julia drew a breath inwardly. “How are we going to, in your, no doubt, very smart words, obtain said magical orb? The club is swarming; it’s loud, can’t you hear it now?”

“They have rooms,” Alice responded. She was known, by most everyone at Brakebills, even now, as being closed off from everyone else; no friends, no close family; alone. Alice and Julia were practically strangers; but tonight, for only one night Julia promised herself, they would be a couple. 

“They have rooms?” 

“Yes.”

“What kind of rooms?” Julia asked, bewildered. “Do they have specific rooms for obtaining black market orbs?” 

Beside her, Alice sat, timidly. To be frank, Julia quite intimated her. Julia had been Quentin’s friend first; his friend forever, for his whole life and for hers. Alice, on the other hand, all her life, growing up, had been quite lonely; of course, at first, she’d had her brother, but he’d been killed at Brakebills. She was nervous; nervous that Julia was upset at her, for stealing away Quentin once, a long time ago now. They were nothing anymore, however. 

“Rooms for people who want lap dances, that sorta thing,” Alice said.

“But it’s Valentine’s Day! Couples are here, there are literally supposed to be no single people, Alice. That’s why we’re supposed to pretend to be a couple!”

“Of course, they’re not open right now. That’s why we’ll be using one.”

Julia made an O shape with her mouth and nodded. 

They exited the jeep, a chill wrapping gracefully around their bodies. Alice took Julia’s hand in hers as they approached the club; lights poured out from behind the door and flashed across their faces. It was nerve-consuming; and worry approached both of them; the idea that they might not seem like a couple. Or at least, a couple that they were trying to present themselves as. 

“Stay calm,” Alice whispered.

“I am,” Julia whispered back, her hand gripping Alice’s more tightly now than before. 

They stood in line only for a short period of time. The bouncer took their IDs, eyed them for a moment and let them pass. Indeed, they appeared as a couple. It only had to last for a short time, now that they were inside. 

Hot bodies filled the large space; the music was even louder, beating fatally against their eardrums; it felt like a hammer striking them. Carefully, however, Alice guided Julia to a room, or rather, a booth with a thick, velvet curtain blocking the shiny table that sat behind it.

“Hello girls,” a grating voice pronounced. It stuck to the air; Julia felt a shudder fly through her body. She went to find comfort in the squeeze of Alice’s hand, but only found empty air. Alice had moved into the booth, sliding in to make room for Julia. The blonde, who, in this tense moment, did not seem nervous in the slightest, gave Julia a smile; it was, Julia suspected, a subtle way of reminding her ‘I’m here. This won’t go wrong. Don’t worry’ and she might’ve added ‘Stay calm’ again.

“Aleksandra,” Alice said. “We’re only here for the orb.”

“Yes,” Aleksandra purred. “And did you bring the powder? As we discussed.” Alice nodded and, from her purse (or rather, a satchel), pulled two large tubes filled with a dark powdery substance. Immediately, Julia knew what it was. Shock funneled through her veins; almost a fear; fear for Alice, for what she was, had done, was doing now, and what would come of this mediocrity. 

They made the trade. Aleksandra took the two large tubes greedily and handed the orb to Alice, who slid it gently into her satchel. She took Julia’s hand and led her from the club, the sound of packed bodies and dubstep slowly fading out behind them. Julia stayed silent until they reached the jeep. Alice buckled herself into the passenger's seat. 

“Alice… you can’t do that,” Julia said, she was furious. “That’s fairy dust! You can not trade a life, unwillingly taken, and hand it over for some… some useless fucking sphere!”

Silence and tension hung heavy in the air. Alice breathed out; her heart was racing, she felt wild and out of control. She was, oddly, infatuated by this; the anger pooling out of Julia; the crime, in a way,  she had committed just now. 

“It was… leftover,” Alice said. “I promise, Julia, I didn’t go out and find a fairy, kill it and grind its bones into a powder. And it the orb isn’t useless; it’s so powerful. So powerful, Julia! If you could put aside grievances, right now, you would be able to see that.”

“Oh? Put aside my grievances, Alice?” Julia spat. “That stuff was a nightmare. I took it; I put it unwillingly into my body, not knowing what it was yet.  _ We fought each other! _ ” 

How could either of them ever forget that moment? It was dangerous, Alice having that powder, using that powder for some incredulous personal gain. An orb? What could it even do? Julia had an inkling of suspicion it was useless. 

“I know that,” Alice said under her breath. Julia quieted to listen, yearning for an explanation. “I know it was terrible of me, and I’m sorry, Julia. I’m sorry. But this orb! It, if used right, under the right circumstances, in the right place, helps to contain magic. I’m always worried nowadays since magic was imprisoned from us; yes, my fault, and I know that now, and I accept what you said. That someday I would realize that it wasn’t right for me to destroy those keys… and I…” She cut herself off and let herself lean to face Julia, put her hand against Julia’s cheek. 

Julia shuddered under Alice’s cold touch. Her fingers were soft; even from constant use of magic, of being trapped, scratching and clawing at everything. Alice had been through hell and her hands were still soft. 

“I’m sorry, Julia, but sometimes moments get away from us, and we have to find options to secure stuff. I made a huge mistake, I am trying to make up for that mistake, in any way that I possibly can. If keeping an orb full of magic, enough to repel any forces that attempt to shield it away, like that ratty bitch Irene McAllister did, then, I hope, somehow that I can repent for my past crimes.”

Julia took a breath. “Okay,” she breathed out. She leaned into Alice’s touch, even more; desperate now to understand the neediness between them, hiding out in this setting. Julia was still mad, at least, a little, at Alice; but hell if she didn’t want to find out if Alice had soft lips too.

So she did. Julia brought her lips against Alice’s; both filled with hunger and desperation and confusion; eager to learn more about the other as they went. They weren’t, right now, strangers anymore. That was evident enough as Alice smiled, her lips still moving against Julia’s. 


End file.
